Humanizing climate change education using a Freirian perspective

Abstract

This paper acknowledges the importance of introducing climate change education in Latin American classrooms. To address this need, we developed an online course for teachers from six Latin-American countries, aiming to integrate climate change education with a critical humanizing perspective. Within this paper, we present findings from 25 participants who engaged in the “Discussing our Abode” activity. Employing a mixed-methods approach, we conducted both content analysis to dissect participants’ discourses and an analysis of the pictorial representations they provided. This esthetic experience revealed that participants, and humans in general, are shaped by social conditions and remain unfinished in terms of education. We conclude that it is feasible to create a climate change education proposal based on Freire’s principles of dialogue, criticality, creativity, hope, and love. The Freirean perspective extends beyond discussing human impacts on nature to recognizing the emotional dimension in all relationships.